What’s Not to Love About Leftovers?

Two lunches thrown together in seconds…

Today was leftover sweet potato dahl and some simple accompaniments (previously I had just boiled peeled sweet potato chunks with red split lentils and mashed them all together once cooked through. Then finished with a little turmeric, coconut milk, lime juice, seasoning and simple ‘tarka’ of fried spices at the end with grated ginger, garlic, red chilli, garam masala, cinnamon and black mustard seeds).

Some lonely looking mushrooms roughly torn into a hot pan with butter, a whole smashed garlic clove, and, unconventional but no less delicious, thyme sat on top of the dahl. yogurt and chilli oil and some flat breads from my freezer was all I needed.

Oh, not forgetting my store cupboard star to beat all others, the nut crumb: equal parts mixed whole raw nuts / seeds / panko breadcrumbs fried in a little oil till crispy with generous seasoning and spices if you like them – I nearly always use garam masala or ras el hanout from Spice Mountain. Roughly chop or blitz and see how long they last in a Kilner jar. Not long I’d wager…

The day after, another lunch in minutes today using last night’s experimental miso coconut quinoa and rice (I used two handfuls of white basmati, one handful of quinoa, a scant tbs miso and the watery part of a tin of full fat coconut milk – stored upside down in the fridge overnight to remove the coconut cream for something else. I then topped up with boiling water, clamped on the lid, turned the flame to lowest and allowed to steam and evaporate for 10 mins.

The result was a rather stickier than usual rice but with fabulous flavour. I finished with a little soy sauce and toasted sesame oil). For lunch I sautéed wafer thin slices of sweet potato and once browned added the leftover rice and quinoa with a splash of water, clamped the lid on to steam and reheat thoroughly. I then layered it in a bowl with curly red endive, chopped raw cashew nuts and ubiquitous chilli oil…